Buick sells 1.03 million vehicles globally, breaks record set in '84

DETROIT (Bloomberg) -- General Motors said it sold a record 1.03 million Buick vehicles globally last year, the highest total since 1984, before the brand entered China, which is now its largest market.

Buick sales in China rose 16 percent last year to 809,918 while in the United States, where 42 percent of buyers were new to GM, deliveries increased 14 percent to 205,509, the company said today in a statement.

GM's previous Buick sales record was 1.003 million in 1984 when 941,611 were sold in the United States and none in China, Nick Richards, a GM spokesman, said in an e-mail. After peaking in 1984, Buick sales globally fell to 431,548 in 1998 and U.S. sales reached as low as 102,306 in 2009, he said.

GM's total sales rose in China last 11 percent to 3.16 million while U.S. sales gained 7 percent to 2.6 million. The automaker has said it plans to release its total global sales later this month.